Mixed-media process at Gold Gallery art show

Located at 655 Tremont St., the Gold Gallery features the work of a new artist every month with a showcase event, Third Thursday.

Gold Gallery Director Claire Carino says the concept came from First Fridays at the Harrison Avenue art galleries, “though we didn’t want to step on their toes.”
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The featured artist of this week was Jessica Dunegan (artwork pictured right), a South Carolinian who moved to Boston nine years ago and now works in mixed media.

She says she approached gallery owner Adam Gold about showcasing her work after hearing about the space from another featured artist. Dunegan is now a permanent artist at the Gold Gallery. Her paintings range in price from $2,000 to $6,900.
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Here Dunegan, 34, (right) is pictured with Carino, 28, who said the artist is the first mixed-media artist to be featured at the gallery.

She says Dunegan’s work offers the perfect segue as the gallery starts to explore displaying photographs.
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Dunegan’s process begins with a photograph printed on transparency. She then builds up a barrier of masking tape around the photograph, and pours in resin until it’s a quarter-inch thick.

She then inserts a tube of paint into the resin and begins tracing over the photograph. The process, which can take three weeks, is “almost like icing a cake,” she says.
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The first part of her collection includes four self-portraits.

After working in art galleries, Dunegan started painting four years ago. “I always wanted to be on the other side of art,” she says.
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Most of her self-portraits depict her in water. “There’s a lack of stability in water,” she says, “but it’s also peaceful.”
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This close-up shows the different layers of the painting.

For Dunegan, creating self-portraits is cathartic. “It helps get the emotion out, to explain yourself,” she says, though she never thinks about other people looking at these portraits of her.
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Branden Giarusso (pictured), of the Fenway area, had seen pictures of Dunegan’s work prior to the show. “I didn’t really understand it until I saw it,” he says, “with the paint and the resin. It creates a really cool 3-D effect.” Dunegan says she wants people looking at her work to notice the method and the materials, “but the emotional part is the most important.”
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The other part of Dunegan’s collection includes three paintings of chandeliers. She says they’re just as emotional for her as the self-portraits.
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The chandeliers, she says, pay homage to her grandmothers. “They’re glamorous and beautiful,” she says, “but their real beauty is in their aging.”
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The chandelier paintings have a “ghostly” look to them, which signifies their state of change, Dunegan says.
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More than 40 people attended the Thursday night event. Many were just walking by. Others had heard about the event ahead of time, and some were local store owners that decided to stop by after work.

This month’s Third Thursday is the last until spring, though the gallery tries to host new shows every four to six weeks. The owner, Gold, says the gallery already working on a holiday show. It’s theme? Why not: Gold.
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